Harvesting Change: Celebrating Food Day with Farmworkers

The presentations throughout the event focused on three key areas: the hidden, unconscionable treatment of farmworkers in the US system of industrial agriculture; movement building for social change; and the role of money in fomenting, or hampering, positive change.

The day-long conference featured storytellers and artists who collectively celebrated the contributions of the nation’s 1.4 million farmworkers. Alongside the celebration, presenters highlighted the entrenched exploitation of these hard-working people, without whom we would not enjoy the cornucopia of food in our markets and on our tables.

The day was exquisitely choreographed with Bon Appetit’s VP Maise Greenawalt giving a brief and moving introduction. As VP of a $600 million food company, and someone who has spent months educating herself and others about the current injustices in our food system, she expressed feeling “scared and impotent” not knowing how to ensure that the food they buy was not produced at the expense of the health and wellbeing of farmworkers. I think this day moved us all one step closer to realizing that goal.

The perfect venue

The event was held on the beautiful campus of Mills College in Oakland, CA. I can think of no better venue to host a theme of justice and progress. Mills boasts a long, rich history of providing education with an emphasis on social justice and community service to women who might not otherwise have such an opportunity. Just this past spring, I watched a good friend – a grandmother of four – graduate from Mills with a bachelors degree, an achievement made possible by a generous scholarship from the college.

I rejoiced with friends and family as I watched women of all colors and ages receive degrees in everything from music and math to philosophy and film. Yet, what most moved me was the bachelors degree bestowed upon the octogenarian May Ohmura Watanabe whose undergraduate education was cut short as she was forced to move from the dormitory at Mills to a WWII internment camp. It brought tears to my eyes.

And so too did the Harvest of Change bring tears to my eyes — of sadness and shame and of inspiration, hope and shared commitment to change the food system in which we are intimately tangled (especially us city folk). We can, and are, working together to create a more just food system for all. Si se Puede!